Miami woman finally faces trial for killing 5-year-old foster child

MIAMI — More than a decade after foster child Rilya Wilson’s
disappearance shook Florida’s child welfare system, the caregiver accused of
killing the girl is finally set to go on trial in a highly circumstantial case
hinging on jail inmates who say they heard the woman confess.

Jury selection is set to begin on Monday in the trial of
Geralyn Graham, which is expected to last for about eight weeks.

Graham, 66, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder
and has written letters to judges insisting she is innocent. She faces life in
prison if convicted.

“I’ve never hurt a soul in my life,” she wrote in one
letter.

Rilya’s body has never been found. Police have no witnesses
to any killing and scant physical evidence. The crux of the case are alleged
confessions Graham made to fellow inmates that she killed Rilya and buried her
near a lake.

“It is always problematic for the government when it has to
build a case on jailhouse snitches,” said Robert Jarvis, a law professor at
Nova Southeastern University who has followed the case over the years. “In the
end, the government may lose, particularly if Graham can present a reasonable
alternative explanation for Rilya’s disappearance.”

FEW CASEWORKER VISITS

Rilya was born Sept. 29, 1996, to a homeless cocaine addict.
The girl’s name was an acronym for “remember I love you always.” She was taken
into state custody when she was less than 2 months old.

The girl was last seen in 2001 living in a home shared by
Geralyn Graham and Pamela Graham, who are not related. When it was discovered
in 2002 that Rilya was no longer living there, the Grahams claimed a Department
of Children and Families worker had taken her for medical tests and never
returned.

An investigation showed that a DCF caseworker, Deborah
Muskelly, did not make required monthly visits to the Grahams’ home for more
than a year, even though she was filing reports and telling judges that the
girl was fine. Muskelly was eventually placed on five years of probation for
pleading guilty to official misconduct for falsifying time sheets.

The case had far broader ramifications, leading to the
resignation of then-DCF Director Kathleen Kearney and triggering several
reforms, including a new missing child tracking system linked to the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement. State lawmakers also made it illegal to falsify
records of visits between child welfare workers and children in the agency’s
care.

In addition, legislators required DCF to contract out
casework to private organizations, which experts said has contributed to a 28
percent drop in the overall number of kids in care since Rilya disappeared. The
state pays those organizations about a half billion dollars a year.

“That was the event that drove privatization, for all
practical purposes, and truly changed case management,” said DCF Secretary
David Wilkins.

Caseworkers are now required to visit a child monthly and
carry GPS units that stamp a date and location to make sure every child is
accounted for. But it was not until July that caseworkers were required to go
beyond simply taking a picture at those visits and to get critical updates
about how the child is doing in school, whether they have any medical concerns
or how they are faring socially in the home.

Former Miami Herald publisher David Lawrence, who chaired a
task force that examined the agency’s failings in Rilya’s case, said the case
did lead to important reforms, but problems remain.

In 2011, 10-year-old Nubia Barahona was found dead in her
adoptive father’s pickup truck. Subsequent investigation revealed that she was
routinely abused and that signs were missed by her caseworkers.

Her adopted parents have pleaded not guilty to murder
charges and could get the death penalty if convicted.

“At heart here is people who didn’t want to be bothered by
the system. It is beyond a tragic situation,” Lawrence said of both cases. “You
still need compassion, decency and common sense.”

SNITCHES HOLD EVIDENCE

In Graham’s case, the star prosecution witness will be Robin
Lunceford, a career criminal who had been sentenced to life behind bars before
revealing Graham’s purported confession. Lunceford’s sentence was reduced to 10
years after she came forward. She is now scheduled for release in March 2014.

Lunceford told detectives that Graham, whom she had
befriended, was talking to her from an adjacent cell and “broke down, said she
couldn’t take it anymore, that she had killed the little girl and buried her
near her home.”

Lunceford said Graham told her that she smothered Rilya with
a pillow because the girl insisted on wearing a Cleopatra costume for Halloween
rather than going as an angel.

BRUISES AND SCRATCHES

A second inmate also will testify that Graham confessed to
the killing in another conversation.

Other prosecution evidence centers on allegations of abuse,
including claims that Graham tied Rilya to a bed or locked her in a small
laundry room as punishment for misbehavior. There were also reports by friends
and acquaintances that the girl was frequently seen with bruises and scratches.

Michael Grieco, a former Miami-Dade County prosecutor now in
private practice, said that testimony may help build a circumstantial case
against Graham.

“The prosecutors should and will focus on the alleged
history of abuse,” he said.

Graham has a long history of fraud and other crimes. When
she was arrested, police found that she has used 47 aliases and was carrying 10
different driver’s licenses. That history was missed by a DCF background check.

“Her whole life was a scam. We still don’t know who she was,
even after she was fingerprinted,” said retired Miami-Dade Detective Gregory
Scott, who was an early investigator in Rilya’s case.

Pamela Graham, who remains charged with child neglect, has
been cooperating with prosecutors and is expected to testify. In sworn
statements, she has insisted she does not know what happened to Rilya.

Ultimately, according to Nova law professor Jarvis, the jury
will have to be convinced that there’s no other explanation for Rilya’s death
in order to convict Graham.

“Other than foul play, is there any reasonable explanation
for the missing person’s disappearance?” he asked. “Assuming the answer is no,
is there any reasonable doubt that someone other than the accused is the
perpetrator?”

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